Keepers of the Stars
by The Yardville Girl
Summary: A collection of one shots that are inspired either by outside sources or by my imagination. All of them different stories, though there may be one or two, depending on votes, that may become more than one shots. All of them alternate universes. Lokane.


**Bolide (n) – A term used to describe an exceptionally bright meteor. Bolides typically will produce a sonic boom.**

_"The tricks of magic follow the archetypes of fiction - there are tales of creation and loss, death and resurrection, and obstacles that must be overcome." _

\- Marco Tempest

* * *

Jane Foster sat at her desk, tapping the end of her feather quill impatiently against a ready piece of parchment, and fought not to roll her eyes again.

It was twenty-minutes into the lesson and the new professor for the Defense Against the Dark Arts class was late.

Extremely late. And if anything was a major pet peeve for Jane, it was tardiness.

Jane was a late transfer into Hogwarts; late meaning that she was in her fifth year at the prestigious boarding school and already deemed an outcast from the cliques of the school. Prior to Hogwarts, she had attended the pedigree-like academy, Beauxbatons.

Beauxbatons, for all of its rare qualities and great education, had never really felt like home to Jane. Its reputation was set upon too many old traditions – especially for the girls. Taught to pay more attention to "looks instead of books," she had become an outcast there as well for her opposition to such outdated beliefs.

As it was, Beauxbaton's hadn't been the first magical school in her academic career. No, she had started at Salem Witches Institute when she was eleven, having gotten her acceptance letter when her parents had still been alive. They had been nothing but proud, the both of them being a wizard and witch themselves, and Jane had known nothing but acceptance while growing up in a certain sector of town in Salem. But then, the unthinkable happened and life changed irrevocably for Jane, forever.

Uncle Erik had been vying for a muggle degree in astronomy and physics at a large university in New York City when he was told about their deaths. Jane had been at school, knowing that her parents were on (so-called) _vacation_ in England, when her uncle and two aurors showed up in her dorm room. Her rage and anguish displayed itself with a pulse of power so strong that all the windows shattered while the tapestries tore themselves apart.

A month later, Jane returned to school in Massachusetts while uncle Erik, her new guardian, apparated back to New York.

Two years later saw him being approached by another group of muggles (after achieving his PhD) from a university in Tromsø and so, at age thirteen, Jane found herself moving to Norway.

Jane couldn't say that she wasn't close with her uncle. When he wasn't working on some project that melded muggle technology with magic to study the stars, he was teaching Jane the constellations in the night sky. He baked cookies with her during Christmas, gave her wrapped presents under a glittering tree, and laughed with joy whenever she embraced him. They would take camping trips during the summer along the rocky coast of southern Norway, and next to a crackling fire, he would show her how to use a telescope and make s'mores.

Jane started taking notes and following the stars as they changed positions over the years. Her room became steadily filled with posters that featured shooting stars and swirling nebulae (like all magical pictures, they moved too). Her book shelves became overstuffed with large tomes of spells, astronomy, basic physics, and advanced alchemy. It made uncle Erik proud; his eyes twinkling like her father's whenever he looked at her.

But she could tell that he was a lonely man. Her aunt Sarah had died when she was eight from cancer, and with no children of his own to comfort him, uncle Erik had retreated into a world of despair for two years. So when she came home for the holidays and summer, Jane did what she could to gently nudge him into giving dating a chance again. He was a smart, funny man with nice manners and wasn't wholly unattractive given his age (he always laughed when she told him that).

So it surprised Jane when, after returning to Beauxbaton's in September, that she received a letter from her uncle stating that he had met someone through his corresponding work with the Ministry of Magic in England. The owl had squawked in fear when Jane almost caused it to fall off its perch in the mailroom.

Before Christmas, Jane got another letter saying that uncle Erik had invited his girlfriend with them for their vacation to the Swiss Alps. That was how Jane met Rebecca; a small boisterous woman with wild brown hair, blue eyes, and a wide smile. Jane enjoyed the addition to their usual twosome and would laugh whenever uncle Erik blushed upon catching her staring at them.

When Jane returned to Beauxbaton's a few days after the new year, she received a letter from her uncle announcing his engagement to Rebecca. That time, the owl had cooed happily when Jane fed it two handfuls of treats.

A year later, at age fifteen, she found herself moving to London where Rebecca lived.

Rebecca was a kind witch who ran a specialty bookstore (rare books about herbal remedies, magical creature care, dark magical creatures, crystal use, and hard-to-find antiques) and worked in the Ministry of Magic in the Department of Magical Creatures. She loved to cook, enjoyed being a home-maker, doing crafts, studying astrology, was an avid botanist, and a collector of rare finds.

In other words, someone that Jane found interesting – in a curious, need-to-study-and-observe-to-understand-at-first kind of way. But came to love the way she adored her uncle and how uncle Erik's eyes seemed to fill with light whenever his fiancé was around.

And, suffice it say, having lived with her uncle and withstood his bachelor habits, Jane welcomed Rebecca's influence with a warm heart and opened arms.

It was, after all, a moment of salvation at last.

Not that she didn't love her uncle, but his living habits, even when Jane was around, were atrocious. Every day, when at home with him, she'd be picking up his laundry, his trash, his rotting food, and the copious amounts of papers and books that he left strewn about.

You would think Dr. Eric Selvig, a well-known astronomer, astrophysicist, and runes specialist (who now worked in the ministry's secret department - the Department of Mysteries), would know a thing or two about a simple cleaning spell.

But the truth of it was, he was usually too wrapped up in his work to pay much attention to the environment around him. Which had left just Jane to clean up after him and make sure that the house, and all of it utilities and faculties, was still standing and operational. But now Rebecca was a part of their family and Jane couldn't be happier living in a house that was constantly clean, smelled of good food, and was big enough to fit all of their interests under one roof.

Jane found herself learning a lot from Rebecca; having another female influence in her life helped to soothe the ache in her since the death of her parents. She had someone to talk to, confide in, and look up to as another role model. Just like her parents.

Her parents...they had been killed not for their work in the muggle community (award-worthy scientists), but for their convictions.

To be blunt, they had been murdered by Death Eaters.

Without the dictatorship of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named to guide them, most Death Eaters were running amok and doing what they could to cause chaos and mayhem for the wizarding world. A well-known Death Eater had been the one to kill the young couple that had been Jane's parents. They had been fighting alongside the third generation of the Order of the Phoenix during a well-planned raid on the ministry. The leader of this group, a dark wizard and a vampire, had been leading the members of his destruction-hungry troupe through the dark halls of the Department of Mysteries.

Apparently he was a treasure hunter in his spare time and had rallied his men to obtain precious artifacts that the ministry kept locked in a vault. A collection of rare stones that possessed strange powers. The Order, who her parents had been affiliated with for years (_"vacations"_), had been alerted to the break in while at their headquarters.

She didn't blame the Order. If anything, she was proud to know that her parents had fought and died to make the world a better place. And to this day, she applauded them whenever they emerged victorious, with their stories splashed across the Daily Prophet. Someday, she even hoped to help them fight this war and be counted among their numbers when they finally triumphed.

No, the one she truly blamed their murders on was the Death Eater who was now on his way to becoming the next Dark Lord.

Thanos.

He was steadily gaining power and followers – those who were power hungry and lost, finding themselves easily swayed from the teachings of He-Who-Must-Not…Voldemort.

'_Honestly,_' Jane snorted to herself, _'it's just a name. It has no more power than air when spoken aloud. He's been dead for almost fifty-years now, Jane.' _

Of course, Jane's parents weren't the only set of loved ones wiped out in the still ongoing battles of light versus dark magic. She was no more a celebrity than the tapestries hanging on the walls.

Upon arriving at Hogwarts, she had been sorted into Ravenclaw, which suited her unquenchable thirst for knowledge and facts quite well. With her courage and righteous nature, the Sorting Hat had asked if she would like to join Gryffindor' house. But Jane had denied that choice, finding herself feeling more at home with the color blue and all that her chosen house stood for.

For the most part, Jane was mostly left to her own devices and so, she spent most of her time in the library. So much, in fact, that most of the student body was already calling her the second coming of Hermione Granger.

Which Jane took as a compliment of the highest honor. If there was any woman that Jane idolized in the wizarding world, it would be Hermione Granger. A talented witch and inspiration that she was, even at her age, Ms. Granger (her professional name) continued to pursue her fight to make a difference for the rights of magical creatures and muggles alike.

Jane was already signed up for the semester to take her elective and extra-curricular courses. However, it being Thursday, she had to take her core course of Defense Against the Dark Arts and thus found herself cursing her tardy new professor.

She could hear the loud whispers of other students that had made it blatantly obvious that she would be sitting alone, again, in the front row. Her girlfriends, Darcy (a Hufflepuff), Betty (a Gryffindor), Natasha (a Slytherin), and Peggy (also a Gryffindor) were in their respective classes, and would not be seen until her lunch in two hours. They only shared one core course this semester – Divination, on Wednesdays – and so, sadly, Jane would not be seeing them much outside of Hogsmeade and the Great Hall.

Not that she spent much time socializing with them anyway. She was still the new girl, even after spending an entire semester at Hogwarts already. But the girls were only doing what they could to incorporate her into doing things with them (they truly wanted to be her friend) along with balancing time with their boyfriends.

Darcy was seeing a fellow Hufflepuff, Ian, who was a quiet boy except when it came Quidditch and Ministry politics. Betty was dating a shy Slytherin boy named Bruce who, rumor had it, had some anger issues, but did his best not to resort to violence. He was picked on by the bullies of his house for his intelligence and weak stature, but it was evidently a mistake on their part seeing as how he had sent two of them to the Hospital Wing more than once.

Natasha and Peggy both were dating Gryffindors: Clint and Steve. Clint was an interesting fellow who loved to fly and played keeper for the Gryffindor quidditch team. He also had a love of archery and was in her Potions class, though he wasn't terribly good at putting potions together.

The end result of his potions usually tended to be found on the ceiling of the classroom, dripping down from the beam, and making small explosions with each splash. They were legendary.

Steve, on the other hand, came from a long line of military men (some of them wizards and some of them muggles) and was always proud to display his patriotic love for his home nation. He too was an American but had no other choice than to go to Hogwarts from a young age since Salem Witches Institute only accepted girls into its academy. He played as one of the beaters on the Gryffindor quidditch team and was taking an extra-curricular course in Ancient Studies.

Of course, while Jane appreciated her girlfriends and their attempts to get her to be more socially acceptable, she wasn't incapable of making friends on her own.

As a matter of fact, she had actually met Bruce before she had met any of the girls, and subsequently, Bruce's best friend also.

That best friend happened to be Tony Stark.

Tony was the son of the billionaire mogul Howard Stark, whose conglomeration specialized in weaponized and defensive forms of technology (but as of late was trying to make a switch over to clean energy for the sake of world peace).

So, naturally, Tony was a know-it-all genius that never shut up and had been sorted into Gryffindor. It was joked that the only reason he got into that house was because of his courageous outbursts in class. Tony had a bad habit of challenging authority, which usually led to him being in detention every two or three weeks. Most teachers now just did their best to tolerate his anarchistic attitude.

Steve, of course, couldn't stand by idly when Tony would start mouthing off and the two would often butt heads. However, Steve only tolerated Tony's company for the sake of Pepper, Tony's girlfriend and the best friend of his girlfriend, Peggy. Pepper was a strong-willed red head from Ravenclaw (one of her roommates and quite possibly, a better friend to her than Darcy) who's greatest characteristic was her ability to smack Tony's ego out of the sky. She was in two of Jane's elective courses this semester that Tony was also taking – Alchemy and Arithmancy.

Suddenly, the door at the top of the small stair case in the classroom flew open and slammed back with a deafening explosion of noise. The booming bang of it had caused Jane to almost jump out of her skin, listening as the filled chairs behind her squeaked while surprised yelps filled the air.

For a moment, while the dust fell and settled from the stone walls in the room (her fellow students gasping and murmuring among themselves), there was no more movement.

Then a tall shadow appeared – like a phantom flickering into existence – and stood for a moment, silent and dark, in the doorway. Jane didn't know how she knew this, but somehow she could tell already that this imposing creature was their professor. The air about his silhouetted form spoke of arrogance and Jane felt herself already going on edge.

The entire class, including Jane, seemed to hold its breath and then, without a word, he stepped forward into the light.

Jane found her eyes widening a fraction when she saw how right she'd been about his guessed over-six-foot height.

He had short, slicked-back inky hair, pale skin, placid (surprisingly handsome) features, and flat green eyes that sat above a most pronounced haughty nose. His thin lips were pursed, making it seem to Jane that his mouth was caging a sharp tongue that was waiting to pounce and slice a person to ribbons, no matter their station in Hogwarts.

To Jane, it was like the devil himself had walked into her classroom. The only thing he was missing was the clichéd horns and long-staffed pitchfork.

His robes were an envious velvety shade of rich emerald that had shining gold and pitch black patterns stitched into them. From what Jane could see, they seemed to be designs reminiscent of those found on ancient Viking artifacts. His boots were black, shiny and looked to be incredibly expensive. Jane estimated that they were probably top quality designer dragon-hide boots, which meant they were obnoxiously lavish and pricey.

His eyes, cold and distant, narrowed and moved from one side of the class to the other for a minute before he finally moved and turned to descend the stairs.

Helpless and bewildered, Jane and everyone else could do nothing but stare at their intimidating new teacher as he slowly made his way to stand at the podium. Licking her lips, Jane swallowed as the tension in the room built to an almost unbearable level as he seemingly ignored her and everyone else. He continued his silent treatment in favor of opening the book he had carried in the crook of his arm into the class and reaching the page he was looking for.

It was only upon doing so that he finally looked up and opened his mouth to speak.

"Turn to page five-hundred and fifty-four in your texts."

Without addressing anything else (like who he was, for starters), he looked back down at his text and began regurgitating its words. He hadn't even waited for any of them to open their books to the page he had assigned them before beginning.

While the rest of the mixed students behind her glanced around at each other in helpless confusion, Jane only narrowed her eyes and glared at the moody man before them.

She already knew that he was reading from chapter five of the text, which was a large leap backwards from where they had left off before school break. Jane would happily admit to reading ahead during the holiday season while at home and had completed the entirety of the text (along with the few tidbits of extra-credit assignments it provided) in three days-time. And while she was over-prepared, the rest of the class had been adequately seasoned to continue with where they had all left off in the textbook.

None of them had had any problem in understanding the material when they had first completed it. The spell work had been moderate enough in pace while the essays had been few and brief. So why was it that he was reversing their progress?

Jane wouldn't stand for it; _couldn't_, would actually be more appropriate term for how she felt. If anything, her strength of character lied in her vehemence for fairness and believing in all forms of equality. Especially when it came to the right to having a _proper _education.

Raising her hand, she called out, "Excuse me?"

The professor continued on, as if he didn't hear her, and that only provoked her ire and determination even more.

"Excuse me!"

She had practically shouted it this time and she knew he had heard her by the way he suddenly stopped reciting (in a bored manner, nonetheless) the second page of the chapter.

The entire class, Jane thought, must have transfigured themselves all into heavy, silent tombstones as his gaze slowly rose upwards and met hers.

A dark brow rose at her query. "Yes?"

All attention on her, Jane steeled herself mentally and began to address the elephant in the room.

"If it's not too much trouble professor, would you mind introducing yourself?"

A muscle ticked in his well-defined jaw, but he just stared hard at her like he wanted to drill holes into her skull. She stared back, diamond-hard persistence coating her spine as she and the rest of the class awaited his response.

After a few more moments of terse silence, he answered with what Jane could only deem a stupidly obvious observation.

"I am the one you call professor."

"Yes, but don't you have a name to go with the title, professor?"

Jane had shot back her rebuttal as soon as he had finished with his answer and she watched as his eyes flared, like green flames, with annoyance before cooling. He tapped his fingers in a rigid movement along the top of the podium before he spoke again through clenched teeth.

"You may address me as professor _Laufeyson_."

Jane nodded, feeling the tension of the room dissipate a little. Professor Laufeyson (assuming that that _was _his real name) seemed to believe that that would be the end of her reservations and placed his gaze back on the book beneath him. But just as he was about to show off his oral skills once more, Jane issued out another uncertainty that stopped him in his tracks.

"Professor Laufeyson, why are we going back to chapter five? Before holiday, we had just gotten through half of chapter seven and…"

Jane felt her tongue wither as her mouth closed softly; his burning eyes colliding with hers. She swallowed as she noted his intimidating brow and clenched jaw, a shiver working its way down her spine, softening it. Without looking behind her, she could tell that the rest of the class was leaning back away from the two of them.

He didn't speak, and without voicing it, Jane and the other students unanimously agreed not to question Professor Laufeyson anymore for the rest of the lesson.

When the bells rung an hour later to announce class was over, there was nothing but a flurry of movement as books and papers vanished into bags while their owners disappeared out the door. Jane did not have the gift of quick movement and physically flinched when, with her back to him in the midst of still packing her bag, professor Laufeyson cleared his throat.

Sucking in a deep breath to steady herself, Jane turned and brushed the hair out of her eyes. Blinking, she forced an air of innocence and smiled cordially.

"Yes, professor Laufeyson?"

He was as still and eerie as a self-portrait. He reminded her, in that moment, of a portrait that most of the students talked about for its creepy mannerisms. It hung along the wall of the staircase on the way to Divinations classroom in a thick, black ornate frame. The painting itself was of a close-up of a man in dark clothing (an outfit that suggested the Victorian era). He never spoke – no one knew his name – but would instead stare, with laser-like precision, into the eyes of anyone who dared to meet his gaze.

For a moment, he continued to stare at her and Jane's heart pounded fiercely in her chest.

Then, as if a veil had suddenly lifted, the right side corner of his mouth lifted into a small smirk and his eyes sparked as they took their fill of her. Like some inner-knowledge had suddenly flared to life while he continued to watch her.

If anything, seeing that smirk emerge on his face made Jane feel as if she had to fear for her sanity.

He raised a brow along with that smirk (which she was sure he was famous for among those who truly knew him).

"Jane Foster, correct?"

She cleared her throat and nodded, facing his gaze dead on. "Yes, I am. Did you need something, professor?"

The smirk bloomed into a brightly wicked smile and Jane wondered briefly if he happened to be related to Voldemort in some distant-relation type of way.

"Yes. Perhaps you may be able to tell me whether you have some free time later this weekend?"

Jane blinked and blinked again. He wasn't...he wasn't coming on to her, was he?!

"Uh…I'm um…I…yes, yes I do."

His smile seemed to widen with a sense of serenity and Jane knew then that she had just walked into a trap.

"Excellent. Then I suppose you won't mind spending a few hours in detention with me, here, Saturday night at seven pm."

Jane blinked once and then a huge tsunami of indigence and anger rose within her; her usually mountain-like self-control was nothing but a rock against its insurmountable force.

"What?! Professor, that's grossly unfair! I haven't done anything to warrant such a disciplinary action!"

He took a step closer to her desk and cocked his head at her.

"Oh no? You seemed to have no trouble in questioning my authoring today during class. I am under no obligation to tolerate such insolence, especially with this being my first day."

Throwing down her book, she turned to face him fully with burning eyes.

"I was _not_ insolent! I merely asked a few questions! Questions that shouldn't have had to be asked in the first place if you hadn't _ignored_ all of us in a show of bad manners!"

Somewhere, in the back of her mind, Jane's conscience watched in horror and fear as she argued back with a man who had the capability to ruin her academic career. And though part of her brain shouted at her for reprimanding him, Jane found that it was easy to drown out under the roar of righteousness in her ears.

His eyes seemed to twinkle at her for a moment and suddenly the roar in her ears died down to a muddled buzz.

She blinked and finally noticed what she hadn't seen during her tirade: he had moved closer and now stood towering over her. She craned her neck back a few inches and swallowed, feeling a sense of doom sink down into the depths of her stomach.

"Not insolent, you say? Interesting. From where I stand, your entire rejoinder dripped with nothing but impudence. An admirable trait for a strong spirit, I must admit, but not something I can encourage in the guise of being your elder _and _educator. And as it stands, Ms. Foster, introducing one's self is hardly relevant when broadening the minds of future generations. But I will concede that perhaps my etiquette, despite its impeccability, does need some refining every now and then."

His words flowed over her like honey; his voice a smooth, clear baritone that rumbled from his diaphragm. She estimated that many a warm-blooded female had found herself subservient to the deep timbre of his tone alone and swallowed tightly. She opened her mouth to retort, but was beaten to it by her rude new teacher.

"You have no choice in this matter, Ms. Foster. You _will _be issued this detention and you _will _report here, as deemed appropriate, to fulfill the task I will assign you when you arrive. _On_. _Time_."

As she stared, slack-jawed and bewildered (her anger still rampaging like a wild beast within her chest), he stepped back and turned away from her. Up the stairs he rose, into his office, and once his robes swept out of view, the door slammed shut behind him with what seemed a note of finality.

It was all very dramatic and overly theatrical.

It wouldn't surprise her in the slightest if he turned out to be a Parselmouth like Voldemort for all of his forked-tongue cunning.

Or, at the very least, the reincarnation of the pure-blooded maniac, Salazar Slytherin.

Either way, he was not a man to be trifled with, unless one wished to face the fanciful saber that was his mind.

Not to mention he was pure evil.

Burying the urge within herself to throw up her hands and scream, Jane turned and shoved the rest of her things into her bag in a rush. Storming out of the classroom, she slammed the door behind her in retaliation and stomped down the hallway, her mood soured along with her appetite.

On her way to the Great Hall, she began silently cursing the previous professor – Professor Odinson – who had gone on maternity leave at the beginning of the semester.

Professor Odinson had formerly been an auror who had retired early in her career - supposedly after witnessing the deaths of her family at the hands of some Death Eaters. After taking a year to herself, she came to Hogwarts, and had been a part of the faculty here for the past three years. All the boys, of course, had fallen in love with her dark hair, sharp blue eyes, and gorgeous figure. Sadly for them, she was already married – to a fellow auror no less who excelled famously in his career and had been promoted (again) this past summer. Professor Odinson had become pregnant around that time with their first child and had excitedly told them the news when the school year had started.

'_Alright,'_ Jane steamed,_ 'it's not her fault that they had to wait so long to have their first kid. I mean, no one can really plan those things to such a degree that a kid just pops up when they want it to.'_

Nodding to herself, Jane chewed her bottom lip as she continued to rationalize who was truly deserving of her rage. _'If anyone's to be blamed, it's Headmaster Heimdall's fault. He's the one who interviewed, and successfully hired, professor Laufeyson as a temporary substitute here. Surely as omniscient as he likes us all to think he is, he couldn't have missed the most obvious flaw of professor Laufeyson – which, of course, is his whole personality.'_

Unseeing to both Tony and Pepper doing their best to obtain her attention (and the consequential bickering between them when they couldn't), Jane continued with her inner tirade. Setting her bag down and smiling wanly at Betty, Natasha, Peggy, and Darcy, she sat down and grabbed a plate. Filling it with roasted chicken, steamed rice with vegetables, and an apple, Jane began to viciously stab into her meal as she became lost in her thoughts once more.

'_I mean, how could the Headmaster in his right mind think, or even FEEL, that professor Laufeyson should be allowed around children? It's his first day, and within a half hour of teaching his first class EVER, he made all of his students afraid of him! They were so scared that they didn't even ask questions or speak! It's ridiculous! How can students be expected to learn if all they do is listen to him read aloud and not ask questions for fear of provoking his wrath?! Are we even going to be able to practice spells in class? What if he becomes so critical during practice, that he upsets someone and causes them to accidently hurt another student? And what about the essays? Is he going to make them obscenely long and then give everyone poor grades because he won't stoop so low as to actually read and correct them?! This is all so, so….SO…'_

"…ane. Jane. JANE!"

Startled back into the real world by Darcy's voice, Jane looked up to see the scared faces of her friends and blinked.

"What?"

Glancing at the rest of the group, Darcy gestured to her plate and Jane looked down to see an explosion of chicken, rice, and diced vegetables all over her plate and the table. Even the apple had rolled off with all of the commotion she had caused while absentmindedly lost in the throes of her resentment.

Her uncle always said that her pride and stubbornness would always get her into trouble.

Traits, he would go on to say, that she had inherited from her father. Genetic characteristics that had evolved into something harder, apparently, than what John Foster had been gifted with himself.

Grinning sheepishly, Jane dropped the fork and rubbed her hands nervously along her thighs. She shrugged her shoulders uncomfortably as they all looked at her like she was a stranger.

"Sorry about that, guys. I uh, I kind of got in trouble with the new professor who's subbing for professor Odinson. He…he gave me detention!"

The girls gasped while Tony rolled his eyes and scoffed, shoving another forkful of food into his mouth and chewing.

Pepper reached over and placed her hand on Jane's shoulder.

"That's awful! What happened, Jane? You've never ever gotten a detention from any of the teachers since you've transferred!"

"Yeah Jane," chimed in Darcy, "you're like, the most favorite student ever since…since the great Hermione Granger herself!"

Peggy spared Darcy a bland look and patted Jane's hand. "Whatever it is, Janey-girl, I'm sure it was just a misunderstanding. One of the other professors will step in on your behalf before it even starts. They all love you."

Jane nodded and smiled in thanks at all of them. "Well, I don't know about all of that, but it was just a silly argument really. He was twenty-minutes late for the lesson, and when he came in, he didn't introduce himself or say anything! He just opened the textbook, demanded that we all turn to a page, and then began reciting it all like it was the Gettysburg Address – "

"Was it long-winded with everyone dying afterward?" quipped Tony, but Jane ignored his commentary, as did everyone else.

" – And that was before we even got the chance to open our books! It wasn't even the right chapter that he opened to! He went back by two and a half chapters and never explained why! We already covered all the material with professor Odinson during last semester, but it's like he didn't even care that we already knew it! So, I raised my hand and I asked him what his name was. The way he carried on, you'd think I'd jumped out of my chair, tackled him, and started pulling his teeth out!"

"Did you tell him that you're a licensed dentist? OW!" Tony rubbed the back of his head and glared at Pepper, who glared in return and turned her attention back to Jane, nodding at her to continue.

"I didn't think it was that big of a deal to ask him for his name, but evidently it was for _him_. And it's even more of a crime, apparently, to ask someone who's teaching a class full of students why he's going over material that's already been covered! I didn't even get the chance to fully pose the question before he turned his hellish-eyes upon me and glared. I swear, I thought he was going to curse me with one of the Unforgivables! But I guess he's smart enough to think of witnesses."

She shook her head. "Instead he spared me, scared everyone half to death, and the next thing I know, he's confronting me after everyone else ran away. He gets in my face, accuses me of being_ insolent_, and then sweeps away from me like he's royalty. But only after dictating that I have no _say_ in the matter! He's just so pompous and arrogant – I mean, how did Headmaster Heimdall not see any of this during the interview?! And why was he even interviewed in the first place?! What are his qualifications? Who recommended him?! _Why _did they recommend him?"

Jane sighed gustily and slumped down into her seat, head down and eyes starting to burn.

"I've never gotten into trouble before. I've never been told that I was argumentative and rude by an instructor. And now…now my record is ruined, and all because _he _got upset over some asked questions!"

Surprisingly (well, not really) Tony was the first to speak up.

"Relax, Foster. If I thought of my record every time I talked back to a professor, I'd be back home, sitting in some overpriced therapist's office, having a nervous breakdown. And speaking of records, it's only _one _detention. It's not like you're the one kid in school who's got the most detentions ever, which would be me, by the way."

"Actually Stark," Natasha interrupted, "the current record holder for most detentions ever was the famous Sirius Black who left Hogwarts in 1977, before he graduated. At your current rate, you're only at half the amount he obtained before he left and joined up with the Order. And secondly, Jane, what Stark is trying to say here is not to sweat it. Everyone, sooner or later, gets detention; whether they're a victim of circumstance or not. And it doesn't mean anything in the long run."

"Nat's right, Jane. Look at the Golden Trio. They were always in trouble and had broken more school rules than any previous group of kids before in the history of Hogwarts. And they all went on to lead very successful lives and have prosperous careers."

Betty smiled at her from her position next to Natasha, and Jane, feeling grateful and a sense of belonging for once, smiled back.

"Yeah, cheer up, dude. I mean, I've got detention this weekend too."

Jane looked over at Darcy. "What for?"

Darcy rolled her eyes and waved her hand impatiently. "Oh, you know, teachers always frown upon a girl being found, half-naked, in the boy's bathroom on the second floor. And they didn't even give me a chance to explain how I'd been slimed by Peeves in the hall! I mean, walking around covered in ecto-goo all day? That's _much_ worse than detention!"

Jane laughed and nodded in sympathy with Darcy's plight, feeling the last of the tension drain out of her shoulders. Grabbing the golden-green apple off her plate, she took a juicy bite out of the tender flesh, and chewed thoughtfully. They all started laughing at whatever joke Tony had just told to break the somber mood before Jane's thoughts swarm to the forefront of her mind.

Munching on another chunk of the apple, Jane wished she could be as relaxed about it all as her friends, but knew by habit that she couldn't. As much as she wanted to believe that things would work out fine, even after serving her detention (no way would professor Laufeyson let her off the hook), she knew that it wouldn't. After what had transpired between them, both during class time and after it had ended, Jane knew that professor Laufeyson wouldn't let it go.

In fact, if she had to make any kind of assumption at all, it would be that professor Laufeyson would do all in his power to further test her mettle.

Probably until she snapped and went mad, or worse, drove her to do something stupid that resulted in her expulsion.

Either way, this was not going to be an easy semester for her.

Jane had no doubt, whatsoever, that professor Laufeyson would be presenting more hurtles for her scramble over during his stay at Hogwarts.

And it would all begin with this weekend's detention. Sighing wearily, Jane could only hope that whatever task he gave her to complete during her detention wouldn't be too difficult.

* * *

Alright, so, this is my first undertaking in writing a story in…well, a very long time. Mostly due to personal reasons and mostly due to the fact that it's taken me a while to back into writing. But, I do love it so and hope to make a living off of it someday (someday soon, given that I'm twenty-five). Regardless, I have fallen irrevocably in love with this pairing. I do admit, after seeing the first movie, I was a puddle of goo over Chris Hemsworth and believed that Jane and Thor made more sense than those who went ahead and wrote fics about Loki making good on his promise of visiting Jane.

However, in lieu of seeing Thor 2 and Avengers, I began to realize that there was definitely more to Loki's character than was being portrayed – or analyzed – in the film. Reading the fics of others on here, inspired me to look deeper to this Shakespearean tragic villain and realized that there was a whole world of thoughts and emotions that, as someone being the God of Mischief and Lies, would be unable to fully accept as feeling (or thinking) or being unable to express healthily given his upbringing. And well, Jane being the relatable human being in this venture of gods, Asgard, magic, and space-time travel, it was easy to see the draw. Especially given the fact that she herself said that magic was just an undiscovered method of science for mankind. Science and Magic...there's a big draw there. Bigger than "Hey, I wield lightning, have a great personality, a winning smile, bulging muscles, and come from outer space." No offense, Thor. Just don't see them having much in common (except that she studies the stars and he lives among the stars) or really being able to understand one another as the relationship matures. Then again, there's no real way to say that a relationship with Loki and Jane would last, but there's definitely a bigger hope that they would have much better chemistry.

And I do so love non-canon ships. I mean, I was supporting Harry with Hermione while reading the second book of the series in 6th grade. And after the final book came out, I was devastated (and kind of digging Draco/Hermione)…but then J.K. Rowling made her announcement last year about regretting the end result that she herself had penned years before and I knew then what it meant to be lifted by happy thoughts and feelings.

I know, for the sake of the franchise and trying to stay as close as possible to the comic series, Jane and Loki will never be together in the movies…but I definitely want more interactions between them. Hopefully in the third movie they will meet up with each other again and we can have more eye-sex.

So, enjoy this little tidbit of a chapter and let me know what you think! It is a one shot, but one that I do plan on returning to revisit some time in the future as I have some ideas about how this will go. There will be other one shots as well, so don't worry! Drop a review, a comment, a constructively critical perspective, and I'll do my best to update. Thanks a bunch!


End file.
